Why is nitrogen often used as an inert gas instead of neon?

Except for helium, which is mostly extracted from natural gas, oxygen, nitrogen and the other rare gases are extracted from the air that makes up Earth's atmosphere. read more

Nitrogen gas is a lot cheaper than neon. However, argon gas is not expensive and often used in welding. Argon is a heavy gas that sinks to the bottom of a vessel and, unlike nitrogen gas, does not mix readily with air and moisture. read more

So nitrogen is commonly referred to as and used as an inert gas (high abundance & low cost.) However, it’s not truly inert like most noble gases. Nitrogen does react if the conditions are met. read more